


Midnight Cocoa

by ellerean



Category: Free!
Genre: Adoption, Day 2, Fluff, M/M, POV Child, prompt: genderbend, sakuraweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 06:53:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6556045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellerean/pseuds/ellerean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwatobi is a nice village, and Sakura's new home is comfortable, so it doesn't make sense that she can't sleep her first night there.</p><p>But it's okay, because her new daddies can't sleep either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Cocoa

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't planned on writing anything for Sakura week, but then [this little comic](http://celestialblossoms.co.vu/post/142663552353) existed and I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I, uh, maybe changed the kid's gender because I really want them to have a little girl, okay? (Also it gives me an excuse to use a proper prompt.)

She wasn’t used to it being so quiet. It should be easy to sleep, but she was still awake, and it didn’t make sense. Sakura lay on her back, with the blanket pulled up to her nose, staring at the ceiling. There were shadows over the room from the tree outside, but it wasn’t scary. It was nice having a tree outside her window. And the window looked out to the garden, and her room had a big closet where she could keep her things (not that she had a lot yet), and down the hall she had two new daddies who were a little weird, but really nice.

It was that last part she was thinking about the most.

Everyone knew who they were. Sakura and the other kids at the group home had watched the Olympics, and Matsuoka-san and Nanase-san were everyone’s favorites. They were so fast when they were swimming, and were so cool in interviews. They were from the same village, and the kids in the home dreamed about visiting Iwatobi to see where Japan’s famous swimmers had grown up. A lot of the kids wanted to be swimmers, too.

Now she had to call Matsuoka-san and Nanase-san “Daddy” and “Papa.” Or “Rin” and “Haru.” They said it was up to her. She wasn’t sure which she liked better yet.

It felt like make-believe on the train ride from the city. The longer they rode the train, the farther apart the train stations were. Sakura had never been out of the city, and everything looked so bright and green. The famous Olympic swimmers let her have the window seat, and Matusoka-san pointed out all the neat things as they passed. Eventually they could see the ocean, and Sakura had never seen so much water in one place. Nanase-san was excited to see the ocean, too, even though he’d seen it all the time growing up. She couldn’t remember most of what they’d shown her on the train ride, but she definitely remember the ocean and the swimming club where they’d met when they were kids.

There’d been a little party already set up when they got home, with a big “Welcome Home Sakura” banner and sweets to celebrate. Matsuoka-san and Nanase-san didn’t stop smiling, even when she didn’t smile right away, but eventually she did. She would be living with Japan’s most famous swimmers, but they tried really hard to include her. Nanase-san made really good mackerel for dinner, and they had pastries for dessert and Matsuoka-san took pictures of everything. She was glad he did, because she definitely didn’t think she’d remember everything from her first day with a real family.

But now it was nighttime and she was in bed, not sleeping like she should be. She looked around the room. _Her_ room. It was cute _and_ cool, decorated in purple and yellow. The window had _curtains_ , and there was a desk and a bookshelf with some books on it. The blanket she’d pulled up to her nose was really fluffy, and _smelled_ new, and there was a stuffed dolphin in the bed that was big enough for her to wrap both arms around.

Sakura carefully folded back the blanket, hugged the dolphin to her chest, and sat up. There were new, soft house slippers by her bedroom door, which she slipped on before sneaking into the hallway.

Her soft footsteps echoed down the hallway, and she tiptoed down the stairs in case any of them creaked. The house wasn’t big, but it was big for two people. Three now. There was a little moonlight, so she didn’t have to turn on the lights as she shuffled into the living room. The “Welcome Home” banner was still up, but all the food and empty plates had cleaned up. She stood on her toes to look at the pictures on the walls.

There were a lot of swimming pictures. There was one of the Japanese swimming team, and one of just Rin and Haru in front of the light-up Olympic rings. There was an older picture with people she didn’t recognize, more swimmers they probably knew from before they were famous. And there were medals on the wall, too—so many medals, in so many colors. A silver one was at eye-level for her, protected inside a glass box. It looked big, and she thought it must be heavy to wear.

“Sakura?”

She clutched the dolphin tighter as she spun around, but it was only Haru. He hadn’t come all the way downstairs yet, stopping to yawn and rub his eye with a fist. She remained silent as he took the last few steps. He knelt beside her so they were the same height, and then it was easy to see he was smiling. He lightly stroked the dolphin’s fin. “I can’t sleep,” he said quietly.

Sakura nodded. “Me too.”

Haru looked at the stairs, and then back to her. “I’m having cocoa,” he said, “if you’d like some.” She didn’t respond right away, but then he extended his hand toward her. He did it slowly, like he wasn’t sure what to do, but she accepted it anyway.

It was a nice hand, she thought, as he guided her to the kitchen. It was soft, and his fingers were pretty and long. But not like a girl’s hand. It was _better_ than a girl’s hand. Haru hoisted her up—she held in a yelp of surprised—and then she was sitting on the countertop, far away from the stove. She swung her feet as he prepared a pot for the cocoa, her heels tapping the cabinets underneath.

“I like your kitchen,” she said. There wasn’t a lot out in the open, not like in the group home. Everything must be hiding in the cabinets, and even the sink was empty of dishes from their party. Haru stirred the cocoa and milk in the pot.

“It’s your kitchen now, too,” he said, without looking up. Sakura propped her chin on the dolphin’s head.

She’d learned quickly that Rin was a lot louder than Haru. He came clomping down the steps shouting both their names, and kept on getting louder the closer he came to the kitchen. “Haru? Sakura!”

“In here,” Haru replied, in a voice that must be too soft for Rin to hear, but he showed up in the doorway anyway.

“What is it?” Rin looked around the kitchen, but stopped when he got to her. He looked surprised for a second, but then looked at Haru instead. “Why isn’t anyone sleeping? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Haru said.

“We’re having cocoa,” Sakura offered.

Rin had been a little scary when he’d first come in, with his yelling and his crazy hair, but now his crazy hair just looked silly. It stuck up in different directions, and Sakura buried her face in the dolphin’s soft plush to hide a laugh.

“You’re having cocoa without me?” he pouted.

Haru slowly stirred the bubbling liquid in the pot. “I made enough for all of us. Go sit at the table.”

The house already smelled like chocolate. Sakura knelt on the cushion that was just for her, which was embroidered with pink sakura petals. The comparison to the trees used to be annoying, until Rin was talking all about the sakura trees on the train and how pretty Iwatobi looked when they were in bloom. _It’s almost spring again_ , she thought, tracing the stitched petals on her cushion. The dolphin lay beside her, tucked beside the cushion like he, too, waited for cocoa.

She knew Rin was watching her, but he wasn’t saying anything yet, so she didn’t speak either. From the corner of her eye she could see how he fidgeted, changing his seated position three times and rubbing the back of his neck as he looked around. Eventually he sat cross-legged with his hands on his knees, and when she thought he was going to say something Haru showed up balancing a tray with three mugs on it.

Haru sat just like she did, with his legs tucked under him, looking very neat and proper. When he set a mug in front of her the steam went up her nose, her face warm and damp now.

“It’s still hot,” Haru said, as she reached for it. Rin quickly put his mug down and squinched up his face as he swallowed, and Sakura knew Haru hadn’t been talking to her. She smiled as she carefully blew the steam off her cocoa.

“Hey, Sakura.” Rin looked down at his mug, holding on to the handle but not picking it up again. “You know, I... _we_ ”—he coughed, then cleared his throat—“we’re really glad you’re here.”

She averted her eyes, wishing her cocoa was cool enough to drink now.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Haru said, even though she already knew that, because then they wouldn’t all be drinking cocoa. But his voice sounded different when it said it that time, and Sakura waited, wondering if he would say something else. But he just stared at the table with his hands folded in his lap.

“We’re a little nervous,” Rin said, like he was finishing Haru’s sentence. Sakura looked up. He was smiling, but not like his normal big-mouthed smile. It was a little one, more like Haru’s. “We don’t know how to be daddies.” His eyes got a little misty, but there weren’t any tears falling. “My daddy died when I was little, and Haru’s parents weren’t around a lot. So I guess you can say we’re making all this up.”

Haru was sipping from his cocoa now. Sakura’s mug was still warm against her hands, and the heat crawled up her arms and into her middle. Which didn’t make sense, because she hadn’t had any cocoa yet, so her insides shouldn’t feel warm.

“I don’t know how daddies are supposed to be,” she answered in a soft voice. “I never had one. _Or_ a mommy.”

Daddy Rin _did_ cry then, and she thought she’d be used to it from all the times she’d seen it on TV, but it was a lot different in person. But he was still smiling. He did that a lot, too—smiling when he was crying. Sakura never understood how a person could be happy _and_ sad at the same time, but then she’d been told someone wanted to adopt her and learned tears didn’t have to be sad. She sipped from her mug, which wasn’t too hot anymore, but her insides were still warm and the cocoa felt good on the way down. It was chocolatey, but not too sweet, and tasted a little like nuts, too.

“Sakura.” Papa Haru’s voice wasn’t all shaky like Rin’s, and he sounded too serious, but his eyes were big and shiny and she thought maybe he was going to cry, too—which was scary, because Haru almost never cried on TV, but maybe he saved all his happy tears for when he wasn’t in front of all those people. He didn’t cry, though; he just set down his mug and slid a little closer to her. “Can I hug you?”

They had both hugged her before, at the group home, and then again before tucking her into bed that night. It was a weird question. “You don’t have to ask, Papa,” she said.

It wasn’t just a hug. He sat cross-legged and folded her into his arms, and she crawled into his lap even though she’d never sat on someone’s lap before. Daddy Rin was coming over, too, sliding his butt across the floor to hug them both at the same time. Sakura pressed her face to Papa’s shoulder (he smelled like cocoa) and Daddy had his face in her hair, which was a little weird because she could feel his breaths and now he was definitely crying, because her head was wet. And he was loud.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Daddy said through his sniffles, and when Papa nodded he crushed her head a little. Sakura’s throat felt funny and tight now, so she couldn’t say anything, so instead she held tighter around Papa’s waist and didn’t mind Daddy’s crushing hug around both of them. It was definitely too late to be awake, and she waited for one of them to say they all had to go back to bed, but no one said anything. Daddy kissed the top of her head, and then Papa did. And then maybe they kissed each other because they were reaching over her head, and she wanted to see because she’d never seen them kiss before.

There was a lot of time for that, though. There was time to explore the house, and time for kisses, and time to learn how to swim. There was time to drink cocoa, even the ones sitting on the table that were getting cold. And there was a lot of time for her new daddies to learn how to be daddies. And even though they were famous and a little weird, Sakura decided they would be perfect daddies anyway. Her insides _and_ outsides felt warm now, and she wanted to finish her cocoa, but she curled up tighter in Papa’s lap instead.

**Author's Note:**

> [here](http://ellereanwrites.tumblr.com/post/142809206433) on tumblr.


End file.
